Miroku Nara by The Share Hotels — Hotel in Nara

I would say at this point I’m an experienced traveller, but furthermore, as a designer and someone that’s been in the service industry for most of my life, I can critique fairly. This is my opinion on a particular room and not so much the hotel as a whole.

I booked a superior room. At almost 54,000 yen a night. We got room 002 in the basement. A dark dingy room with a terrible layout and design. The beds are positioned in front of the toilets and bathroom. Two doors side by side at the foot of the bed. One is the toilet, one is the bathroom with sink. If you use the toilet, you have to leave that room to go into the bathroom to wash your hands. I understand the concept of separate toilets but usually there is a sink inside or else the whole bathroom is in a room with the toilet being in a separated part. Here you enter and leave toilet to bathroom crossing in front of the bed.

Next there is the horrendous air conditioning vent that makes so much noise, it’s like a freight train above your head as you sleep. The room is damp and feels like you are in a hole.

The beds are bad… hard, uncomfortable.

There is a TV…. Around the corner on a wall that you would never use because it’s in an awkward place where there is a table with two chairs. You would never sit there and watch TV… from bed maybe but instead you get to watch your roommate use the bathroom for entertainment.

There are jugs for water in the fridge but you have to go out of your room to get it. Why they place empty water jugs in the fridge without at least giving you them full is beyond me.

As for the rest of the hotel. It’s beautifully designed and we enjoyed the cafe on the main floor. The views of the deer are fun and add a serene quality.

Check out is 10:00am which is an hour earlier than most hotels. This means you have to check out while at or before breakfast and have them keep your bags.

Having said that good luck trying to get breakfast. We went up at 9:00am to try and grab some and they said it was sold out. Not sure how that happens. It was practically empty. At check in, which in our case was done by an actual person, no one mentioned you needed to make a reservation or warned us about how breakfast works. Terrible customer service

Overall, I find this hotel far too expensive for what it is and would warn you to check which room you book. It’s more of a hostel than a...

Spent one night at the Miroku Nara. We purchased 2 rooms and must say we were not overwhelmed. We thought this was a Michelin Guide hotel and higher end boutique Hotel...was it?||Check in was quite informal, the hotel didn't request passports or verification of visitors. Although we arrived at 2:00, we were denied check in until 3:00. The hotel said early check in would cost us 2,200 Yen per hour so we declined. However they did accept our luggage without cost.||Our rooms, in the Grotto (Roots of Nara...sub-basment) were huge (35m squared) and could easily have slept 4 with 2 futons and 2 beds. The traditional tatami room was great to just chill out in. The rooms were quiet! The W/C was separate from the wash zone. Very nice! The wife was strong and we were able to stream. The A/C worked quietly and we were very comfortable. Our Japanese guests in their own unit were not impressed and thought the room dark and "different". Their polite way of saying it wasn't to their liking. We should have purchased a room above ground for them, with lots of light. Either the Japanese-Style or the Moderate would have been better received. The bathroom amenities were of good quality, I had no complaints overall.||The stone table outside our rooms came in handy for our afternoon decision making. However everyone in the hotel comes down to this area for tea, hot and cold filtered water and other needs. It was strange to have folks milling about outside our rooms. ||Aesthetically, the whole hotel is minimal and beautiful. ||We were unable to locate any inter hotel phones for room to room contact, or contact with the front desk. We did not partake in any meals yet the outdoor tables are pleasant and one can watch the deer of Nara wander around. We required parking and the hotel parking is under renovation. It's quite expensive to park locally and the staff members suggested a lot just a few meters down from the hotel that was reasonably priced.||Would we return...probably not. At CAD$235/night. It was pricey for what we received. There was not even a welcome gift of mochi :( Our friends said we should try Setre next time with free breakfast, lounge...

We stayed at the Miroku Hotel for a week. It overlooks the deer park and is in a perfect location, close to Kofuku-ji temple complex and the old town. It’s extremely clean and provides breakfast, either American or Japanese style. We opted for the American, which was excellent and is gluten free if you don’t eat the bread. However, we did not have a comfortable stay here. The standard queen room is extremely small - about 9 x 11 - and mostly occupied by the bed. There is a foot between the end of the bed and the wall making it difficult for the person sleeping close to the wall to get up to go to the bathroom. In order to open or look out the window, it’s necessary to crawl across the bed. There is no chair to sit in. In fact there is no lounge or lobby in the hotel that offers a comfortable place to sit. The back patio that offers picnic tables becomes a cafe at 11 am. If you’re not planning to order something to eat or drink you cannot sit there, even if you’re a paying hotel guest. There is no closet, just 4 hangers that can be hung from a ridge along part of the wall. We ended up using the TV to hang shirts. The bathroom is quite nice with a good sized, very deep tub and lots of hot water for soaking out your aches after a day wandering around town. We’re small people - but the room was a very tight fit and the lack of accommodation for hotel guests...